1906 ľ 08 Delaunay Belleville HB4Phaeton 24cv Chassis number: 4979V Coachwork: Phaeton Tourer Registration Number: M H 12 (current Spanish de-registered 2014. ) Engine Number: 4979V The French Delaunay-Belleville was an internationally coveted prestige car in the first decade of the 20th century. Produced under the exacting direction of manufacturing magnate Louis Delaunay-Belleville, the marque made its debut at the 1904 Paris Salon. The chassis, engineered by former Benz designer Marius Barbarou, featured a distinctive round radiator, patterned after the steam boilers the car's parent firm had long supplied for naval use. We have here an historically important and spectacular survivor in original and unchanged condition. An expensive car of obviously high quality, the Delaunay-Belleville was quickly embraced by aristocrats of numerous nationalities and were the preferred choice of King Alfonso X111 of Spain, King George 1 of Greece and also most prominently The Czar Aleksey Nicholaevitch of Russia, all whom owned multiple examples of these limited production Edwardian vehicles. It is thought that only approximately 100 of these vehicles were produced of which only a handful survive today. The history of this car can be traced back many decades to Snr Luigi Vallarelli Saturnino of Madrid who owned the car up to 1972 and herein we have a survived document of Historic Qualification during that year. Thereafter she passed through the hands of Vintage car collector Snr Miguel Burgos of Spanish fame who was very active in showing his cars and competed in many rallies and events in Spain such as the Barcelona to Sitges Rally in 1974. She then resided the Sodena Spanish State collection in the Navarre Motor Museum from 1995 to 2014. After that time, the current owner purchased the car which would appear to have not been touched, (other than profusely polished) for the previous 25 years.